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Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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First published 1934 (SND Vol. I).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

AMENDS, AMEN'S, A MEN(D)S, A MENSE, AMAINS, A MAINS, n. Chiefly in phr. (after tak, get, have, etc.), amends o', amains o' = advantage of, upper hand of; or vengeance on, satisfaction from. (See also Mends.) [ə′mɛn(d)z, ə′men(d)z]

1. Amains o', a mains o' (ne.Sc.).Sc. 1911 S.D.D. Addenda:
Amains o', phr., getting even with one; getting the advantage or upper hand of one.Abd. 1914 T.S.D.C. I. 14:
He's got amains o' me. He'll tak' amains o' ye gin he can.

2. Amen(d)s, a men(d)s, a mense; amen(d)s o'. (Upon for o' in G. Macdonald.)Sc. 1721 Ramsay Poems 295:
He aw'd a Mends, and that he tell'd him, And bann'd to do't.Sc. a.1784 Dick o the Cow in Ballads ed. Child (1904) No. 185, xxiii.:
I wish I had a mense for my own three kye!Sc. 1819 Scott Bride of Lam. xxiii.:
They prick us and they pine us, and they pit us on the pinny-winkles for witches; and, if I say my prayers backwards ten times ower, Satan will never gi'e me amends o' them.Sc. 1825 Jam.² (under Mends):
To get a mend of one, to be revenged on one [quoting Wedderburn Vocabula (1673) 31: Ego ulciscar te, si vivo; I shall get a mends of you, if I live].Bnff.² 1928:
Amens = revenge; getting one's own back by retaliation. “I'll hae amens o' 'im yet.”Abd.(D) c.1750 R. Forbes Journal from London, etc. (1767) 12:
An it had been a tydie, cauller, swack pennyworth, I might hae chanc'd to get a mens o' her [get even with her].Abd.(D) c.1780 in Ellis E.E.P. (1889) V. 774 (18):
A'll hae amen's o”im. [Transliterated from Ellis's version.]Abd. 1897 G. Macdonald Salted with Fire xxii.:
I'll hae amen's (amends, vengeance) upon him!Lnk. 1709 Minutes J.P.'s Lnk. (S.H.S. 1931) 70:
Walter Carmichaell . . . complained . . . that he had taken a sheep of his . . . and therefor he would have amens of him for the samen.Slk. [1826] Hogg in Wilson Noctes Amb. (1855) I. 213:
He's no worth ony devil's while, Nor upright thing to take amends o'.